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On Tuesday morning, President Petr Pavel will appoint Lukáš Vlček as a member of the government and then hand over the office of outgoing minister Jozef Síkela (STAN), after which Vlček will go to the International Engineering Fair in Brno. He said this today after a meeting with Pavel at Prague Castle. Vlček wants to bring macroeconomic or socio-economic experts to the ministry, but he wants to keep the main body of the team at the office.
In addition to departmental priorities, such as finalizing the tender for the construction of blocks of the Dukovany nuclear power plant or the parliamentary debate on the amendment to the Energy Act, the so-called lex OZE III, today Vlček and Pavle also talked about the recent regional and senate elections. “I share the opinion with Mr. President that the role of us politicians is to work on the stability of this country,” said Vlček.
According to the future minister, citizens are interested in what the government is doing for affordable and cheap energy prices, how it will work to strengthen consumer rights or, for example, change building standards.
After Tuesday’s appointment at Prague Castle, Síkela will hand over the office to him, and Vlček will then go to the fair in Brno. He wants to present a new economic strategy there, which will be approved by the cabinet on Thursday.
Vlček is planning a small change in the team at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. However, he wants to keep the main structure, because according to him, there are a number of capable people at the level of senior directors or advisors. He wants to bring experts in macroeconomic or socio-economic fields to the office, he did not disclose the names.
The exchange of industry ministers is happening because Síkela should become the Czech European Commissioner. In addition to Vlček, Pavel should also appoint a new minister for regional development on Tuesday, the current Karlovy Vary governor Petr Kulhánek (for STAN) is the candidate. He arrived for the meeting with the president at Prague Castle at approximately 5:15 p.m.
He is to replace Ivan Bartoš (Pirates), whom Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) proposed to dismiss due to management’s failure to manage the digitization of construction procedures. Bartoš finished his post at the end of September, the department is temporarily led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL).